Korean - Japanese similarities (loanwords, hanja, vocab)

[matthew254]

anyone have a list of common Korean/Japanese language words? I'm thinking along the lines of 도서관 (図書館) (library) and 약속 (promise). the words can either be loanwords or hanja-based words - but either way, I'm looking for words that are present in both languages.

thanks in advance!

[kyuree]

hey, Matthew!

I don't have a list but I can think of some words

like you said 약속 and yakusoku
신문 and shinbun (newspaper)
가족 and kazoku (family)
사진 and shashin (photo)
시간 and jikan (time, hour)
공원 and kouen (park)

(from the last word I wondered whether Won ₩ and Yen ¥ which I think is pronounced "En" in Japanese are actually the same sino-word??! 円, this means 원. 동그라미)


hmmm, at the moment I can't think of other words... But then again I really just know some random Japanese, probably other ppl can tell you more .
I must say I was very interested in this, too, that's why I even know about some words... Maybe if I watched a J-Dorama (oh, here's a word: 드라마 and dorama) I would hear more and could contribute.

Is there any special reason you want a list of these kind of words?

I must say I was somewhat shocked that words like promise and family seem to be sino-Korean/Japanese. What did the people say before they were influenced by Chinese??
for electronics pretty much every loan word should be similar.

아르바이트 and arubaito in Korean this word came from Japanese which in turn is from German "Arbeit", it means part-time job in Asia and "work" in German
the abbreviations are a bit different. In Japanese it's baito and in Korean there's also the abbreviation 알바

by the way... while studying Sogang 3B, health chapter, we came across 깁스 which seems to be a loanword from German "Gips" (cast, when you say broke your arm).

hm, just checked Yahoo's 일어사전 and 깁스 is ギプス in Japanese (so the same). Maybe again the word came to Korea via Japan? I once heard that there are a lot of German loanwords in Japanese medicine language.

And 호프 Hof probably comes from German Hofbräuhaus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofbr%C3%A4uhaus_am_Platzl

I also found ホ―プ on Yahoo

[sunnydani]

Hi! I'll add a couple more words. There are so many of them but here are some that come to mind right now:

설직히 = shoujiki = 正直 = honestly
성격 = seikaku = 性格　= personality, character
기분 = kibun = 気分 = feeling, mood
태도 = taido = 態度　= attitude
기대 = kitai = 期待　= expectation, hope
세계 = sekai = 世界　= world
관계 = kankei = 関係 = relation, connection (as in: A와는 아무 관계도 없다= This has nothing to do with A)
확실하다 = kakujitsu = 確実 = certain, sure, reliable, tangible

Most of these are words I picked up from watching j-drama (they were so close to korean they were easy to figure out). Of course some of the conversions are a bit more of a stretch but once you figure how they work it's so much easier to go back and forth between the languages.

[kyuree]

Hi! I'll add a couple more words. There are so many of them but here are some that come to mind right now:

설직히 = shoujiki = 正直 = honestly

Most of these are words I picked up from watching j-drama (they were so close to korean they were easy to figure out). Of course some of the conversions are a bit more of a stretch but once you figure how they work it's so much easier to go back and forth between the languages.

yes, yes, right!! I tried to recall this one! I heard it on dramas, too

[SiEd]

Well, here's an interesting site that ventures a bit further into the native vocabulary of both languages and possible cognates (which are more contentious than the hanja borrowings - but are still interesting nonetheless).

http://www.languagesmuseum.com/Altaic-Languages/Japanese-Korean-Cognates/index.php

Some of the more interesting correspondences:

섬 ~ 島 (shima) 'island'
닭 ~ 鳥 (tori) 'bird'
해 ~ 日 (hi~bi) 'sun, day'
빛 ~ 光 (hik[ari]) 'ray' or 日 (hi~bi) 'sun, day'
물 ~ 水 (midu > mizu) 'water'
다시마 'kelp (for making broth)' ~ 出し (dashi) 'broth (made from steeping kelp)'

[kimchiandsoju]

Sort of related but not really....

I was in Taiwan a few months ago working on a computer system type thing, and I was trying to explain that 2 systems weren't communicating. The guy I was talking to spoke almost no English, I don't speak Chinese. I know some Chinese and hanja based Korean words sound similar so I went out on a limb and said "Dong-Hwa?" and made the "x" sign, and he actually knew what I meant! I guess it sounded close enough for him to know what I meant. So, my Korean language actually came in handy in Taiwan.


That doesn't always work, of course, but its always worth a shot, I suppose.....

[cheri]

Hmm... I always think of 가방... and the days of the week, maybe? Is this what you're looking for? Don't know the 한자/kanji behind similar-sounding words it so I'm probably not being very helpful...

[javiskefka]

Yeah, in my brief trip to Japan, words that came from hanja were really easy to memorize. With a handful of those and a few set phrases memorized, I got along ok for the duration. These are the ones I noticed:

온천 = onsen
지하철 = chikatetsu
x 분 = x bum (x minutes)

[kyuree]

Hmm... I always think of 가방...

oh yes ^^, right, it's ka-ban or sth in Japanese, right?

[gillesvdp]

도로 is another one

[matthew254]

wow thanks everyone! the idea for the list came to my mind recently. I notice that when talking to Japanese speakers we had commonalities between Korean and Japanese (negotiated using English of course)

Anyone ever read the book If You Give A Mouse A Cookie? Looks like I just volunteered myself. I'm shooting for a basic, simple list. Anyone care to correct any mistakes and/or add to it? My Japanese isn't exactly up to par (read: I can't speak Japanese at all):

건배 = ? = (cheers!)
가방 = ? = (bag)
약속 = ? = (promise)
신문 = ? = (newspaper)
가족 = ? = (family)
사진 = ? = (photo)
시간 = ? = (time, hour)
공원 = ? = (park)
도로 = ? = (road, street)
아르바이트 = ? = (part-time job)
물 = 水 = (water)
섬 = 島 = (island)
닭 = 鳥 = (bird)
해 = 日 = (sun, day)
빛 = 光 = (ray)
다시마 = 出し = (kelp for making broth)
설직히 = 正直 = (honestly)
성격 = 性格= (personality, character)
기분 = 気分 = (feeling, mood)
태도 = 態度 = (attitude)
기대 = 期待 = (expectation, hope)
세계 = 世界 = (world)
확실하다 = 確実 = (certain, sure, reliable, tangible)

kudos to all you multilinguals out there!

[kyuree]

[list]
건배 = ? = (cheers!)

kampai?... something like that for saying cheers in Japanese

[hyunwoo]

Matthew

Here you go ^_^

건배 = 乾杯(kanpai) = (cheers!)
가방 = カバン(kaban) = (bag)
약속 = 約束(yakusoku) = (promise)
신문 = 新聞(sinbun) = (newspaper)
가족 = 家族(kazoku) = (family)
사진 = 写真(shasin) = (photo)
시간 = 時間(jikan) = (time, hour)
공원 = 公園(kouen) = (park)
도로 = 道路(douro) = (road, street)
아르바이트 = アルバイト = (part-time job)

[luckynomad]

you should buy a Korean-Japanese vocab book or dictionary if you want to see cognates. I have a few and they're pretty easy to find in Korea.
I know a lot of the Hanja and their readings in Korean so when I started to delve a bit into Mandarin Chinese I could immediately recognize the similarities.
the Chinese word, Bo-tong-hwa, sounds like 보통화 normal speaking = Mandarin
the Chinese word, ni, sounds exactly like 니 = you
the chinese word, ying won, is similar to 영어 = english
ni hao? the chinese greeting: In Korean 好 호 has the conotation of good or like =you good? 니 호?

When reading Japanese words that have two Kanji together they take the chinese style pronunciation. This pronunciation is usually close to the Korean pronunciation.
Well, sort of. Get a Korean-Japanese book and it'll become pretty obvious where the changes come in.

Chinese Characters are to East Asia what Latin and Greek are to Europe, so knowing them will give you some transparency power not only in the Korean langauge but with Japanese and the Chinese languages. I've heard that Cantonese has more similarities to Korean than Mandarin does to Korean because Cantonese was more influential when the loan words were first coming into the Korean peninsula.

[matthew254]

고마워요!!